This invention relates to an epilation appliance and to a method for using said appliance, in particular for epilation of the human skin. The appliance is comprised essentially of a hand-holdable housing which accommodates a motor for driving a clamping device, particularly a rotary clamping device, which is provided in the appliance and equipped with clamping elements to grip and pluck the hairs, and with a means for reducing the sense of pain during the extraction of hairs, said means comprising at least one electrode.
An appliance of this type is known from DE 44 08 809 C1, the disclosure content of which shall be deemed to be incorporated in the present application by express reference. Said appliance has in particular two electrodes which, in order to extract the hairs, can be brought into contact with the skin at the same time as the clamping device. A generator of stimulating current, in particular a pulse generator or the like, is assigned to the appliance, and the generator's outputs are connected to the electrodes.
A general problem facing epilation appliances is to increase their effectiveness during epilation on the one hand and to reduce the user's sense of pain during the removal of the hairs on the other hand. To this end, the above mentioned appliance uses nerve stimulation produced by the action of a stimulating current, particularly pulses of current, on the skin in order, by irritation or stimulation of the underlying nerve structures, to reduce or even eliminate the pain while the appliance is being used for epilation. During use of the above described appliance the electrodes and the clamping device are jointly in contact with the skin, the treatment of the skin involving the application of pulses of current emitted via the electrodes by means of a pulse generator or the like. These pulses of current ensure that the body's own pain inhibiting systems existing in the human organism are activated electrically, thus masking or blocking the transmission of those pulses of pain produced by extraction of the hairs. The intensity of the stimulating current can be set individually so that in the area between the electrodes the user feels a slight itching, tingling or the like on the skin but without the triggering of any muscle contractions.